White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cheesecake

This cheesecake recipe was my mother's creation and it is by far my absolute favorite cheesecake ever. It's a bit sweeter than the normal cheesecake, so cutting pieces smaller is advised. When I went to make this one recently, I was saddened to discover that somehow I'd lost to bottom part of my spring-form cheesecake pan and ended up driving out to my mother's house to borrow hers. You can decorate this cheesecake in nay manner, although my mother and I both enjoy drizzling extra white chocolate across the top. For this one, I also went around the edge with some chopped macadamia nuts and had my son pick out some cupcake toppers I'd bought for some added color.

Crust
1 1/2 cups vanilla wafer crumbs
1/2 cup chopped macadamia nuts
1/2 cup melted butter
1/3 cup sugar

Filling
12 oz softened cream cheese
3/4 cup sugar
8 oz / 1 cup melted white chocolate chips
2 eggs plus 2 egg yolks, beaten
1/4 teaspoon vanilla butternut flavor
1 1/2 Tablespoons flour

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350°
• Mix together crust ingredients and press into bottom of pan
• Blend cream cheese and sugar together until smooth.
• Add rest of filling ingredients and mix well--don't beat too fast
• Pour into crust and smooth out to edges.
• Place a cooling rack onto a shallow pan and add water. Place cheesecake pan on top of cooling wrack and put in oven. (See picture above)
• Bake for approximately 35-40 minutes. Cheesecake will be done when the center is firm when pan is shaken. If it moves too much, add more cooking time and check again.
• When it's done, leave in oven to cool with the door cracked open.
• Remove from oven after cheesecake has cooled.
• Use a thin knife to loosen the edges from pan before opening the spring-form, otherwise the cheesecake will stick and crack open.
• Decorate with melted white chocolate, chopped or halved macadamia nuts.